Alaska -1st cruise-HAL, Princess or Celebrity?
 

This is our first cruise ever!! We are really excited about the opportunity, unfortunately we are very, very late in planning this! We hope to go in July. Our options are HAL - Westerdam; either the Dawn or Sun Princess; or Celebrity - Infinity. Any suggestions on which ship is better? By the way - we are in our early 30's. I have been getting mixed reviews about the age range on HAL and Celebrity as being the "older" crowd. My concern with the Sun or the Dawn Princess is that they are both older ships while the Infinity and the Westerdam are "newer". Any help would be great.

DO yourself a great faver, take the celebrity, for the much better food if nuthing else. Expect to pay somewhat more--PAY IT AND BE GLADE YOU DID.

My priority would be the itinerary,times in port and a naturalist onboard. HA and Princess go to Glacier Bay.I believe Celebrity only does Hubbard Glacier.Princess offers Anytime dining if that is important to you.
Do you want a roundtrip Vancouver,RT Seattle [more open ocean sailing usually] or North or South bound cruise? If doing a NB or SB you might want to plan to do some interior touring as long as you are all the way there.
There are so many choices!
I really think the ship is secondary.

Holland America and Princess specialize in Alaska. Celebrity does not. In my opinion, Holland America is a superior line than Princess with less emphasis on charging you for everything. So I would choose Holland America, which we have sailed with four times. The Westerdam is a great ship and is smaller than the Princess ships.

I'd go with HAL also. Did HAL and Princess in Alaska. HAL has local guides board the ship during the glacier visit. The food is also very good. There are several extras on HAL you will not get on Princess such as included juices and hot chocolate as well as an ice cream bar. Also HAL employees walk around outside with soup or hot chocolate during glacier viewing. Yes, HAL has an older crowd but it is a better line than Princess when viewing Alaska. Also the large Princess ships sometimes have problems navigating the glaciers, we did not get close to Tracy Arm at all during our voyage because of the ship's size trying to navigate through the ice. We sailed the Diamond Princess on that route. I am 35 and was among the youngest on the ship on both the HAL and Princess sailings. Since you are sailing when school is out there will be more families. Hope this helps.

I've lived in Alaska for 24 years and have been a tour bus driver & guide. My experience with Princess from shore is if you want to feel like you are part of a herd of cattle, then Princess is your company. If you want to feel like the company is there to make your trip special, then HAL would be the choice. I recently took a my 1st cruise w/Norweign in Hawaii and enjoyed it. We made the same observation of Princess there as well. Some people don't mind, but it is not for us. I also agree that the itinerary is the most important, so take in Sitka , it is beautiful.
My other suggestion is to spend some time at minimum 3 or 4 days seeing the interior of Alaska, i.e., Denali Park or Fairbanks, etc.

Not to exaggerate - but from someone who has been on many lines, bus tours on all the lines seems like a heard of cattle. No one mainstream cruise line stands out from another.

I would look at going out of Vancouver (and not Seattle). The Seattle sailings do not have good times in port, and the scenery sailing is not as pleasant.

I also would look at a ship that goes to Glacier Bay.

I have sailed Celebrity cruise lines once and it ranks as my lowest cruise experience. It is over priced and they charge more on the ship for everything (tours, drinks, internet, transfers) compared to the other lines. The cost is just not worth it. My friends who do like Celebrity have said the quality has gone down significantly since I last sailed. Most have since switched to HAL and Princess as their lines of choice.

Celebrity wins hands down...the food is great and service unbelievable...I disagree with previous post but we all have our opinions. Ive done many cruises and am an agent so thats my thoughts

I would recommend HAL of the choices you mentioned unless you're opposed to set dining. The service and food was very good. If you want to consider any other lines, the best of the Alaskan cruises I've been on was the Regent Mariner.

I haven't found much age difference amongst the lines except for longer cruises (regardless of the destination) as those will attract retirees more than a one week cruise.

I also recommend the Regent Mariner. Smaller ship with larger cabins (700 passengers at most). Country-club casual dress throughout the cruise. No set dining times. Great food. If you'd like more info, I'd be happy to give you the name of a great TA we use who specializes in Regent and gives additional discounts. Regent is more expensive, but it's essentially all-inclusive and the experience is terrific. Contact: [email protected]

My reference to Princess treating passengers like a herd of cattle was not so much the lines encountered by all when traveling (especially after the latest terrorist plot), but the fact that they insist you participate in what they have planned. I like to be a little more independent. If I don't want my picture taken, then don't make me. If I want to book my own shore excursions, then let me. Don't lay any guilt trips on me or make me feel like something terrible will happen if I think for myself.
I understand that some people might like to be lead and always be told what to do, in that case Princess would be there choice. Different strokes, for different folks still applies when traveling.

AKcrusin: Thats ridiculous.

AKcruisin - I have cruised many lines and the shore excursions on each line are extremely simliar.

If you want to be indepedent on any line - you have the option to.

I really question your experience.

Well, we are going for the third time on an Alaska ship..tried HAL last time and the Virus from hell broke out. Baring unforseen circumstances and deliberate deceptions, I think cruising is what you make of it. We enjoy going with various members of our large family, trying out the stuff to do on the ship, long visits with each other, going our separate ways on excursions, or alone time in port, etc. We have done the Dawn, Sun, Star, Grand, Ryndam, Windsurf. Windstar, some mulitiple times, and a couple Grand Circle, and a few others I can't remember thru the years. All trips had some wonderful memories and a few bad ones involved.

Does anyone recommend Regent if going with kids or is that an older group as well?

Just returned from a Princess cruise to Alaska. For the record, we have done HAL and Princess, and HAL is better...less nickel and dime stuff, more special attention. Our stateroom, with balcony,was pretty tiny, and since we had first seating, we felt pretty rushed unless we got there right at the 5:15 bell. Kids club was pretty rudimentary, but the kids enjoyed it...and some of the public spaces were pretty 'tired' looking. Anyway, had a good time, but didn't get in to Tracy Arm due to 'fog', which was a huge dissapointment.

For Alaska, in particular, I would agree with katybird that the itinerary and naturalist, etc. would be the main consideration. We chose Princess for that very reason. We could do a one way voyage so we covered more area and it went into not only Glacier Bay, but also College Fjord. I think we were on the Dawn Princess and it was fabulous. The naturalist on board was very knowledgable and then we were joined by two rangers in Glacier Bay. The food was excellent and the room was one of the largest I've ever had on a cruise ship. PLus the fact that there was a guest laundry on board (several in fact) so we could travel a bit lighter.